Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she now understood the need for the island nation to secure its borders as competition for the thawing Arctic regions heats up.

Greenland is a self-ruling territory in the Danish kingdom, which means policymakers in Nuuk control most domestic issues. Denmark, which oversees defense and security policy on the mineral-rich Arctic island, is injecting 14.6 billion kroner ($2 billion) to ramp up defenses.

Denmark is ready to allow the US to boost its presence in Greenland, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said as she seeks to curb an escalating diplomatic crisis with the Trump administration over the world’s largest island.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen stated that her country could allow the United States to increase its military presence in Greenland, Bloomberg reports. Currently, there is only one American military base in Greenland,

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has publicly backed Denmark's sovereignty over Greenland, according to his spokesperson Dave Pares. This is the first time Starmer's government has publicly supported Denmark in the ongoing diplomatic crisis with the US over the Arctic territory.